BOSTON – When the U.S. Senate confirms political appointees to ambassadorial posts, it can often cause eyes to roll.

Too often in American diplomacy, these important postings are handed out to those who bundle millions of dollars for candidates or through crass political favors, with little consideration for the qualifications of the nominee.

But when the Senate voted Friday to confirm the political appointee David Thorne as an ambassador, there was not much room for cynical grumbling.

The well-respected, well-connected Boston entrepreneur was nominated by President Obama and confirmed in the U.S. Senate as the Ambassador to the Italian Republic and the Republic of San Marino.

And the posting in Rome for Thorne is really a way of going back to the place he once considered home.

Thorne came of age in Rome: His father took the family there to live when Thorne was eight years old. His Italian is fluent and his knowledge of the country’s history and its place in the world is deep.

He is full of ideas he wants to bring to the position, including using his experience with the web and new media to promote the mission of the embassy.

“I am honored by the chance to do public service,” said Thorne in an interview with GlobalPost.

“And I feel I have a lot to bring to this post,” added Thorne, a co-founder of Adviser Investments, which specializes in Vanguard and Fidelity mutual funds and electronically traded funds.

Thorne, 64, who lives in Brookline with his wife, Rose, and two children, has been involved in a wide variety of business ventures, including marketing consulting, real estate, publishing, and financial services. He is also an investor in GlobalPost.

Thorne’s father, Landon Thorne, Jr., who hailed from a prominent Republican family, was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to administer the Marshall Plan in Italy in 1953. And the Thorne family lived there for more than 20 years.

“I remember the style and the elegance and the way things were at that time,” he said of his upbringing in the old world diplomatic circles in which his family lived.

 

His father served briefly in the foreign service and then returned to international banking and acquired the Rome Daily American newspaper and served as its publisher. His mother remained living in Rome until 1974.

“During all that time we were deeply connected to Italy. I consider it my home for all of those years,” said Thorne.

These ambassadorial postings are the plums of any new administration, the most coveted of political appointments.

And, of course, they typically go to big spenders in the party that’s in power, successful entrepreneurs and powerful businessmen. Thorne is all three, but his qualifications are undeniable.

He is also a close personal friend of Senator John Kerry, who strongly supported Thorne's nomination to the Italy post.

Kerry and Thorne were close friends at Yale where they played together on the soccer team and both graduated in 1966. Both went from college into the U.S. Navy and served in Vietnam. Thorne’s late twin sister, Julia, was Kerry’s first wife. Thorne has remained a close friend and adviser to Kerry. He was credited with breaking new ground in online fundraising for Kerry's campaign for the White House in 2004.

Many of those confirmed along with Thorne in the Senate on Friday were political appointees, which make up approximately 30 percent of all American ambassadorships. The rest are career diplomats, foreign service officers who’ve risen through the ranks of the State Department.

Thorne is approaching the mission with a clear set of goals. He pointed out that Italy has five U.S. military bases and that its importance as a strategic ally is sometimes overlooked. He said he wanted to nurture the long-standing alliance.

He said he would also seek to stimulate commerce between America and Italy, particularly in the area of alternative energy partnerships. Southern Italy, he said, was an ideal setting for wind and solar energy exploration.

Most of all, he said, he wanted to work to heal the reputation of America in the world which he said had been badly tarnished in the past eight years.

“We are emerging from the Bush years, and as someone who grew up abroad I was horrified by our arrogance and the way we were perceived to be carrying ourselves as a country. That’s not what America is all about,” said Thorne.

“I would like to restore a sense of listening and a respectful spirit, while at the same time wanting to contribute our good ideas.”

 David Thorne

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/090724/envoy-hopes-repair-tattered-image